For many years, the game‑development landscape has been dominated by two heavyweight engines: Unity and Unreal. In 2025, roughly seventy percent of all titles released on Steam were built with one of these platforms.
While the open‑source Godot engine has made notable strides recently, the majority of large studios still cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—leaving Unity and Unreal firmly in control of the market. Enter Immens, a new venture founded by three industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—who believe there is still space for a fresh engine that addresses the shortcomings of the status quo. Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of game development: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple.
Together, they are setting out to challenge the entrenched giants. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new engine because “the tools that existed a couple of years ago simply aren’t enough anymore.” He highlighted the role of AI‑assisted programming as a catalyst that could let developers start from a clean slate again. “With a lot of guidance and control, you can build something that delivers full functionality quickly,” he said.
Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarified that their use of AI is not about generating content from a single prompt, as many hype‑driven discussions suggest. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible. “AI can reason about massive codebases and data sets,” he noted.
“If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer or a tiny team can plug in custom systems—like a bespoke particle effect—without being limited to a few scripting tricks.” This approach is intended to let creators extend the engine rapidly, using AI as an accelerator rather than a replacement for traditional coding. The motivation behind Immens’s AI‑centric design stems from the current economic pressures facing game studios. Brussee described the market as “rough,” pointing out that development costs are spiralling upward, making it harder for smaller teams to survive. “We need new ways of working that lower risk, reduce budgets, and let creators ship faster with fewer people,” he argued.
The goal is to break the cycle of ever‑increasing expenses that threaten the livelihood of independent studios. De Jong, the chief product officer, observed that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While this has provided a stable foundation, he believes the industry now requires genuine innovation. “Continuing to do things the same way isn’t enough,” he said. “We need a different approach—something more flexible and adaptable.” He criticized the “monolithic” nature of existing engines, where developers must conform to proprietary file formats and workflows. With AI, Immens aims to deliver an engine that molds itself to the developer’s needs rather than forcing developers to fit the engine.
Flexibility is a core principle for Immens. De Jong envisions a system where users can swap components, append new features, and craft bespoke tools tailored to their personal workflows.
“Imagine being able to design an interface with exactly the shortcuts, features, and layout that suit your team’s project,” he explained. This level of customization, powered by AI, could dramatically shorten the time required to implement complex systems. Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can quickly go off‑track if left unchecked. To mitigate this, Immens is building transparency into the engine: users will always know what the AI is doing, have access to its decision history, and retain full control over repeatability.
He illustrated the benefit with a simple example: creating five characters with a specific trait used to take weeks of planning; now, with AI‑assisted tools, a developer could sketch the idea over coffee and generate usable assets in minutes, then discard the temporary tool once the task is complete. This on‑demand workflow promises significant cost savings.
The architecture of Immens deliberately avoids imposing a single workflow. De Jong emphasized that developers decide how much AI to incorporate and where, while the underlying framework remains open enough to support various pipelines. Open standards are another pillar of the design.
Brussee explained that when files are stored in text‑based, open formats, any tool—whether it’s Blender, Maya, or a generative‑AI system—can read and manipulate them. This interoperability contrasts with many current engines that act as closed ecosystems, hindering seamless integration with third‑party software. Despite the excitement, there is a palpable backlash against AI in game development. Some critics, especially on platforms like LinkedIn, sensationalize the technology, claiming that a simple prompt could soon generate a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience.
Immens’s team acknowledges the hype but stresses that AI should be viewed as a tool, not a magic button. Valient believes that AI will ultimately make developers better, even if the term currently carries negative connotations due to its disruptive potential.
Economic anxieties also swirl around AI, with many questioning whether the sector is a bubble inflated by lofty valuations. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com bubble, noting that while many companies vanished, the underlying internet technology persisted and flourished. “We’re focused on building a solid engine; AI simply helps us move faster and think bigger,” he said. Whether the AI market is a bubble remains uncertain, but the team is confident that a well‑engineered product will survive regardless of market fluctuations.
Funding for Immens is still in its early stages. The founders have secured “first commitments” but have not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as “reasonable.” Brussee cautioned against excessive capital, noting that too much money can breed complacency and reduce the scrappy mindset essential for a startup. The company remains tiny—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—by design.
De Jong explained the delicate balance: building an engine is a complex, long‑term endeavor that doesn’t benefit from a massive headcount, yet timing is critical. “We have a window of opportunity over the next few years as AI reshapes the industry,” he said. “We need enough resources to seize it without over‑staffing and losing agility.” Immens is currently racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. The team aims to release this demo within the month, already having accelerated their timeline dramatically.
“When we started in April, we thought we’d be at the end of the year,” Brussee recalled. “Now we’re roughly twice as fast as we expected.” The business model is still being fleshed out. While Immens admires Epic Games’ philosophy of succeeding when developers succeed, they admit it’s too early to make concrete statements about pricing or revenue sharing.
Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will enable a new wave of creativity and risk‑taking in games. “We love games and want to see more complex artistic expressions,” Brussee concluded. “If our technology can help push the industry forward and inspire innovation, that would be amazing.”